Activists may be one step closer to marijuana reform.
Esau Freeman presented an update to the Wichita City Council Tuesday morning.
“I have brought with me 4,200 signatures that we have collected,” he said to the council.
Freeman is the founder of Kansas for Change — one of several groups supporting the petition. The petition aims to reduce the criminal penalty for first-time offenders in possession of marijuana.
The groups collected signatures last summer but fell short of about 2,900 needed to get the question on the November ballot.
Now, Freeman is confident in the names they’ve collected. He said they’ve gone to polling locations and collected signatures from people eligible in the first petition. They have more than 4,200 signatures.
“It worked out to our benefit,” Freeman said. “We made sure to get registered voters this time by doing that, and we’re just looking forward to letting the people decide.”
Pamala Vaughn is a Youth Addiction Counselor and is with the Stand Together Coalition. She worries about the influence of the petition.
“We’re not really saying that we’re for or against it,” she said. “We’re just concerned about the youth, and they’re already talking about it.”
However, Freeman said the law is written to only include people 21 and older. He doubts it will influence drug use at all. He said this Marijuana Reform Initiative would reduce the penalty for first-time offenders.
“We are trying to take the sting off of a first offense so that someone doesn’t lose their voting rights,” he said. “Their rights to government assistance. Their rights to go to college.”
“These are all things that derail people’s lives, and we’re hoping to help remedy that and make our society a better place,” Freeman continued.
On Wednesday, Freeman plans to submit the petition for consideration. The Sedgwick County Election Office will validate those signatures. If the petition is validated, it then will go back to the Wichita City Council.
According to a city attorney, the council could either decide to pass the petition as-is or the council could put the issue before the public to decide. They would have to conduct an election within 90 days; it’s expected, at that point, it would be on the April election.